Shattered
by procrastinadian
Summary: Sophie thought she knew herself, she thought she knew her life. Then he showed up at her door and gazed into her eyes. In them she saw the truth and he shattered her world. Nothing would ever be the same.
1. Broken Windows

*Update*

I found myself with some free time and I decided to update the chapters I have put out. I tried to fix up some mistakes and add some things in to fit in with my plans for the rest of the story. So here it is, please read and REVIEW. I would greatly appreciate any and all comments on my story. I'm still pretty new at this so any feedback would be awesome.

Thanks again to Wing Darkness, scribble-padfoot and MysNiWol

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Disclaimer:I in no way own any rights to the movie or book Jumper. The characters and original story belong to their rightful owners.

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Notes:  
Blah – normal  
Blah – Sophie's soul  
"Blah" – talking

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Prologue – Broken Windows

In this world not everything is as it seems. People go about their day to day lives unaware what is really out there. In this world there are those who are capable of things not humanly possible. They are the Jumpers, able to appear anywhere in reality and vanish out of it. This power of teleportation is nothing short of god-like and there are those who feel humans shouldn't dwell on god's territory. The Paladins are an organization set out to remove Jumpers from the face of the earth. Completely unaware to the mortal realm, the constant struggle between the two groups faces extreme conditions. The Jumpers are on the move, organizing, preparing their assault. The Paladins, shaken up as their leader disappeared with enemy number one David Rice, are currently trying to rebuild. Their war is building up, soon their secrets may be revealed and me, well I'm just stuck in the middle. My life was affected in ways you couldn't even imagine, I was going to be part of this war whether I liked it or not. I was sucked in, my life flipped upside down and now everything I know has been shattered.

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I thought I knew who I was. I thought I understood what my life was. But all of that changed. I used to see the world as just black and white. I use to think of life like a window. You know it lets you see both sides of things but still keeps you separated. That's how I felt, like an observer never fully getting close to anyone. Or at least that is how I see my life now. More so than that, windows were plain, they were... well... normal. I was content with everything in my life, sure there it had its ups and downs, but it was all as it should be. But that day, he changed my entire outlook on life. My nice plain window became this beautiful, intricate, stained glass window full of colour. My bleak black and white world was flooded with this colour. Suddenly what I thought was simple and straightforward, wasn't, it was so much more. Everything changed, everything I thought I knew I didn't anymore, there was much more to life than what I had seen through my window. It was all because of him. That day he showed up at our door changed my life. This stranger looked into my eyes and completely shattered my world. He left me broken, my window shattered, the scattered pieces falling around me glittering in the light of my new world.

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Someone knocked the door. I wonder who it could be. I don't think we were expecting anyone and we rarely get visitors. I walked over to open it only to find a young man I've never seen before standing there.

"Hi" I said to him

We stood there in an awkward silence; I looked him over to see if I might recognize him. He had short blond hair and a handsome face, but what really got me were his striking eyes. I couldn't quite place why they seemed so familiar to me. I looked closer into his eyes, he seemed shocked or confused. He was surprised at something almost like he saw something unexpectedly and he kept staring at me... Could it be me?

"Can I help you," I asked him.

He didn't answer; he just kept staring at me oddly. I was starting to get a little irritated, why was he staring at me? I don't know why but I got this weird feeling from him, his presence seemed almost natural around me. I thought maybe he was supposed to be here or something, but no that would be crazy. I don't even know who he is. Even if he was staring at me I wanted to know more about who he was.

"Uhh, is... is Mary here?" He answered shakily; he still seemed shaken up about something.

_What was this feeling of confusion I was getting? He knew my mom, but I've never heard of him before. A crack in the window that is my life, my mom who I have always been so trusting of, who I thought was always truthful with me, could she have been hiding something all along?_

That gave me a shock, why was this young man here for my mom? I couldn't figure out who he was or why he was here, but even more so why was he looking for my mom? Where could he know her from? It didn't make sense to me.

"Hey mom," I called. I tried to hide the panic in my voice.

I stood there; I couldn't help but stare back at him now. I couldn't figure it out. What did he have to do with my mom? I could hear my mom approaching from behind.

As my mom looked at the stranger standing there, she quickly spoke, I thought she sounded almost panicked. She must have known who he was.

"Honey," She replied quickly "Why don't you wait upstairs"

Now I knew something was up. Why would she ask me to leave? What could this possible mean?

"Okay," I couldn't get rid of this feeling I was getting. Why did it feel like something was going to happen?

Who was he?

As I climbed the stairs, I felt his eyes gaze upon me. I turn and see him, watching me and as our eyes meet, it feels so familiar as if I've known him all my life. As I turn away, I feel his calculating eyes still upon me, watching my every move. I felt a chill run through me as his cold stare bore down on me, as if he were breaking me down and taking in everything about me.

But who was he? Who was this stranger who had just appeared at our door?

I knew I was supposed to go wait in my room, but I couldn't walk away, I felt drawn to this stranger. As if we were in some way connected. Strange as it may sound, I felt that I should know him from somewhere or that he should know me. His eyes are what first came to me, the way he looked at me, it felt so familiar. I stopped at the end of the hall, just out of eyesight. I had to know more.

I had never been one to eavesdrop, but this situation called for it, I just had to know more. I could not make out everything they were saying.

"I only had two choices, kill you or leave you" Told Mom to the young man.

The word rang through my head, kill. Why would my mom have to kill him? Why would my mom have to kill anyone? The idea of mom killing anyone was absurd and yet she had said it so naturally. The concept alien to my image of her, but her voice told me different, the word seemed to fit perfectly. She said it as if she had to do it, she would have without question. My mind raced going through the thought of what this might mean.

_Another crack, I knew my mom was definitely hiding something from me. The idea that she could kill someone, how could she have hid that part of her from me for so long? How could someone as loving and caring as her possibly kill someone? The mom I knew was gone._

"So you left," The man replied

At the sound of his voice, I felt it again. The sound of his voice seemed so familiar to me, almost like I've heard it before. This connection, I've never seen him before and yet I felt so drawn towards him. I want to know more, I have to find out who he was.

"To protect you," My mom's voice was so confident, so sure of herself and her decision.

Why would my mom have to leave him, what was he to her. What was she protecting this man from and why? I could tell they had some sort of relationship, that they were connected somehow. The way my mom looked at him, the way she acted. It seemed like she was so close to him, almost as close as she was to me, but...that was impossible wasn't it? I'm an only child; my mom has never said anything about having other kids. She couldn't have lied to me, could she? This stranger, this man....he couldn't really be...her son? The idea was foreign for me, I never would have thought I could have a...a...a brother.

_My window was full of cracks now; my view was jagged, full of confusion. I couldn't believe what I was hearing._

"So I'm a Jumper, you're a Paladin..."

I didn't focus much on the rest of their conversation. I couldn't get past the idea of my mom lying to me all these years. Through the haze of thoughts clouding my mind, I still caught some of what they were saying. What was that last word? Paladin...Jumper... what could those mean. What was a Paladin again, some sort of holy knight or something, what could they have to do with this. And a Jumper, what was that, they couldn't be talking about someone who jumps off a building to commit suicide, could they? What could those things possible have to do with my mom and is this stranger. I paid little more attention to them, my mind quickly racing back to the relations between myself, my mom and this unknown man.

The more and more I thought about it, the more possibilities came to mind. My mind raced at all the possibilities. But it all ended with the same thought, him and I were connected somehow, one way or another.

My mom's voice broke my thoughts as I heard her speak once more.

"I'm giving you a head start son," She paused "Because I love you."

Did I hear her say son? I'm not sure of anything I hear, my mind to shaken and unfocused. I stood there, my head starting to spin at the idea. She loved him; he was something important to her. But where was he going, why was he leaving now, what had he been looking for? What did my mom mean by a head start, a head start for what? Nothing was making sense anymore, but my mom loved him, he was important to her and I had to know why.

"Good luck," was the last thing my mom said to him. Then I heard the door close.

The way she said it to him, good luck, it sounded like she really meant it. Not in a nice way, not like something you say when someone needs a little boost or they are trying to accomplish something. But as if for some reason he would need luck in order to keep going. It sounded like he was going to be in danger.

I stood there, too stunned by what I had overheard to react. For a second I was frozen, the shock paralyzing my body, unable to move. But the need to know more forced my body to go, I needed to see more.

I ran to the window and watched him walk down the path. Waiting in the distance was another figure, a young woman waiting for him. She held out her hand, and as their hands met, they vanished. In a blur of snow, they were gone.

I blinked, shaking my head. What just happened? That wasn't possible. How could anyone just vanish into thin air? I turn away; I couldn't have seen what I just saw. People cannot just disappear. I keep shaking my head, there was no way that just happened, but the more I question it, the more I can't stop wondering. I look again, it just couldn't be possible. But all I see is nothing, no one walking in the distance, no one standing where the two people should have been, just the flurry of snow falling to the ground.

_My window was breaking now, entire pieces rendered completely useless, I could barely see what I thought was the world anymore._

I ran down the stairs, rushing to the door. I had to see what just happened. I had to prove to myself what I saw actually happened. I wasn't thinking about the cold, I didn't even bother grabbing a coat; I was focused only on seeing it for myself.

"Sophie what are you doing?" My mom's voice still panicked from the conversation she had with the man.

"Where are you going?"

Her voice didn't even register with me and I just kept going. I grabbed the door, throwing it open in a hurry and I started to run.

My mom yelled after me "Sophie get back here!"

I'm sorry mom, but I have to know. I thought to myself, I just have to know. I ignored her and kept running.

"Get back here right now!"

She was running after me now, trying to stop me, trying to keep me from the truth. But it was too late, I was gone, too focused on finding out what she was keeping from me.

"Sophie!" She called in desperation.

Her voice told me everything; she was hiding something from me. Her pleading calls only a way to keep me from the truth.

"Sophie!" She kept calling again and again to no avail.

I don't even want to think about the trouble I am going to get into. But even so, I just had to know. I kept running, not looking back. I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry mom, the thought kept running through my mind. Whatever it was that she was hiding from me, I was going to find out. I wanted to know what secrets she kept from me.

I reached the spot where the two of them had been. The snow laying their kicked up all around and looking like it had just freshly fallen. I thought about what I had seen, it kind of looked almost like some sort of bubble had enveloped them and transported them away. It left an imprint of a circle in the snow surrounding where they would have been. Where there should have been their footprints, nothing, brushed away as if it never existed, as if everything within that circle of snow had just taken off and then disappeared. It looked as if the two people who I saw standing here had never been here. I looked for something, anything to prove that they had actually been there. Nothing...there was nothing, it was plain, freshly fallen snow, nothing had been there. Wait what was that....I saw it out of the corner of my eye, something black lying underneath the fallen snow. Something was there, something left behind. There was someone here before. I hadn't just imagined him standing here, he was here, and he really did disappear. At that moment I felt distanced from myself, as if I was watching myself from far away. I wasn't connected to this world anymore.

I hear my mom running after me, approaching in the distance. I hear her voice and the faint yells of "Sophie" in the distance. Her voice wasn't reaching me anymore; too much was running through my mind. What just happened here, this stranger appeared at our door and my world is slowly crumbling around me. Everything I know, I began to question it.

My hand was trembling, I tried to reach for whatever it was underneath the snow, trying to grab it, but the closer I got the more I shook. I finally realized how cold it was out here; maybe I should have grabbed a coat. The air was freezing around me, but the chills I'm feeling were not from the cold.

"Mom," I scream out my voice shaky, "Mom, what is going on, who was that? Where did he go, how did he just vanish? People can't just disappear, mom what is going on!" I can't focus; I have a million questions to ask.

Overloaded within the chaos of my mind, I began to break down. I wanted to run to my mom, I wanted her to comfort me in my distress. But I couldn't, not after this; I was full of doubt in the one person I thought I could always trust.

I pictured myself falling, deeper and deeper into isolation. I didn't have anyone anymore, no longer could I confide in anyone. The falling form of my body was reaching out, screaming for help. My mom's hand reaching for me, but I couldn't grab it. I couldn't bring myself to trust her to save me. Her screams trying to reach me, but I let myself fall. I watched as her figure was engulfed in my disbelief.

My head hurts, my body aches. My vision was starting to blur, it was going dark. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I saw my mom running towards me, as the world went black around me. My knees feel weak and as my legs fold from under me, I collapse. My mom appears overhead, saying something, frantically asking if I am alright, but I cannot hear her anymore. The concern in her face is clouded with my doubts, the feeling of betrayal and deceit overwhelming me, she knew who he was, she knew what happened and yet she lied to me. I lay looking up to her, her face is the last thing I remember seeing as it is erased into the void.

_The final crack was put into place. My view of the world was distorted; the window that seemed so clear before was actually obscured, hiding the truth. With that final crack in my world, it shattered. In its place was this wondrous stained glass window. It's elaborate design revealing all the secrets that my old window had hidden from me. My old world crumbled around me._

Everything is spinning, the world blurring around me. A face, I see a face in the distance, I felt drawn to it, and it tugging at me, like it was trying to pull me in. It is hard to make it out, but I am sure it's him. I reached out to him, calling out to him, this stranger whose name I don't even know. I can final see his face clearly, his hand outstretched waiting for mine. As I gazed upon his face, the only thing clear to me, it was his eyes that caught my attention once again. His gaze was strong, but warm and so familiar, and then it dawned on me. They were my mom's eyes, the ones that watched over me and cared for me and I finally knew he really was her son. More than that, he was my....my...my brother, I had to know more. I stretch, inching closer, and grab his hand. Then... nothing, the blurring slows, the blackness crawling over erasing it all. I saw the crumbling pieces of my window, my world, consumed but the dark. As my eyes close and everything disappears, the word escapes my mouth in a whisper, "Jumper."

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*Update*

This chapter didn't get that big an update compared to the second chapter, but there are some changes and additions.

Thanks for reading and please review.

-- The Procrastinadian


	2. Picking Up the Pieces

*Update*

I found myself with some free time and I decided to update the chapters I have put out. I tried to fix up some mistakes and add some things in to fit in with my plans for the rest of the story. So here it is, please read and REVIEW. I would greatly appreciate any and all comments on my story. I'm still pretty new at this so any feedback would be awesome.

Thanks again to Wing Darkness, scribble-padfoot and MysNiWol

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:I in no way own any rights to the movie or book Jumper. The characters and original story belong to their rightful owners.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:  
Blah – normal  
Blah – Sophie's soul  
"Blah" – talking

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Chapter 1 – Picking up the Pieces

Everyone goes through an identity crisis, lost in the world not knowing why you were there. It could be the superficial high school one, where you can't decide what click to be part of. Or those years when you're a little older and finally have to face what you want to do in the future. But for me it was a little more complicated, my identity crisis was just that I had lost my identity. Everything that had once made up who I was had disappeared. I was a lost little girl with no idea who she was. Not knowing yourself is a feeling that leaves you completely hopeless. It is something that can make you want to give up and die. Back then I had almost done that, I had almost given in. I lay there just waiting to die, but in a dream I found my reason to keep going. Since then I have never looked back, the path losing myself set me on had made me who I am today. I picked myself up and ran, always going forward, and not once have I questioned my choice, for now I know who I am, for now I know my life.

Nowadays I find myself lost in thought. So much had happened and it was easy to lose myself in the memories. I find myself at my window, looking up at the night sky, I gazed in wonder. Each star was a glittering object in the sky, wondrous shapes full of mystery and excitement. I don't know how I never noticed it in the past. I guess I just never thought about it before. All my life I had sheltered myself, I've never gone outside the familiar. I did the things that I thought I was supposed to do, I spent time with friends, I spent time at the mall, stuff like that, but nothing ever out of the ordinary. I was well... normal. I thought I knew everything life had to give. I thought I had everything that I wanted from it. But from that moment on my life was filled things I couldn't have even imagined.

After that day my life changed. I look at everything differently now. It was like I got a second chance, I was given a chance to truly start living. I was given a reason to really live, what I had been doing up until that point wasn't really living, in a sense I was reborn that day. In truth that experience is what made me whole, it made me who I am today, but at the time I wasn't even close to being complete. One by one, I had tried to get back the things I had lost, to rebuild who I once was, but I could never exactly get back to who I once was. I was left alone, just picking up the pieces.

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Nothing.

There was nothing.

The sun has been taken by the night, a blanket of shadows blocking out everything, darkness filling every crevice. The atmosphere sheathed itself in oblivion, leaving it devoid of any evidence of light.

I'm in a void of nothingness, there is nothing here, everything is gone, all sound, all light, all hope, gone.

Then there was a crash, the sound of glass breaking, as the black crumbles from around me. The mask I had been hiding behind had been breached allowing the anguish to seep into me.

Sounds of cracking surround me as shards collide, disintegrating into powder cloaking the landscape. The ground covered with the pieces that had once covered me.

I awoke with a start, the sound of the falling glass all that fills the air.

With each piece hitting the ground, another piece of me breaks, with each sound I felt a little more of me breaking along with it. Some pieces disappeared forever dissolving into the sky. As the sound begins to quell and the last pieces descending upon me, there was no part of me remaining, my world was left in ruins.

As I opened my eyes what I saw wasn't what I expected. I don't know what I expected to see, but this wasn't it. Everything was still looking a little hazy and my head was still pounding. I rubbed my eyes trying to clear up my sight, but everything stayed fuzzy. I had to get up but as I tried to move my body ached. Pain shot through me, but I kept trying to stand. I pushed myself up, but everything started to spin and I fell back down. My hands shot up to my head, I braced myself and the spinning slowed.

I lay there wallowing in self pity. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Laying there gave me time to think. What happened, why was I like this? Where was I...Who was I? Nothing came to mind, and the more the tears wouldn't come. I wanted to give up and stay where I was forever, but deep down I knew I had to move. Something was pulling me, driving me to keep going. I didn't know what it was.

The questions kept circling in my head. Who... What... Where... Why? I wasn't thinking coherently anymore, all my confusions merging into one. I tried to come up with some sort of answer, some sort of conclusion to my questions, but nothing came to me. I needed to move, I had to find out something, anything.

Once more I fought the pain and tried to stand. One hand braced against my head, the spinning was starting again, but I had to get up, I had to keep going. The other hand ready at my side to steady myself, I pushed against the ground and slowly got to my feet. My balance was a little shaky, but I managed to get to my feet without falling. I took a step but the world rushed passed me, my head beating harder than before, the spinning that had slowed speeding up again. I missed my footing and down I fell down on the ground face first into the dirt. It made me want to quit, but I was determined to keep going, so up I went. Even slower this time I got back up to my feet. I didn't try to move right away; instead I took in what was around me. Still surprised as to what was before me.

To say this place was not what I expected would be an understatement. There was no way this place was normal. I've never seen anything like it. At first glance, if I didn't look closely I might have thought I was at home. But that is where the similarities end, imagine a picture but then rip pieces off of it or tear holes through it, that was what I saw around me. Familiar things, like my house stood before me, but I could only recognize its basic structure, whole chunks were gone, as if they were literally ripped off, but what was left were empty voids filling the cracks with endless darkness. All around me were things I recognized, object's from my life, but none were complete.

_My home, why is it I could recognize this as my own. Why could I remember it being something important to me and yet I had no idea why. I didn't know why it was my home, what about it made it crucial to my being? Why don't I remember who I am?_

I felt empty, like those missing rifts enveloping the area I was missing parts of me as well. If one could look into my soul they would find nothing, a barren canvas with nothing on it to see. In the wake of looking into me one would be overcome with the feelings of my despair and isolation. I don't know why I did what I did, but I had to move. I started moving forward and never looked back.

I was running now. I just kept going, I didn't know where I was going but I needed to go somewhere anywhere but here. The more I ran the more I saw. This place of fragmented pieces of their wholes a representation of my own crumbled self as I tried to recreate my world. As I revisited my life through these parts I felt flooded with despair. I saw broken up memories, things that I had no recollection of but I clearly was a part of, I didn't remember anything of who I was. I recognized things, places, but I didn't know why. It hurt to see this world; it felt like I was hollow inside. But I had to keep going, I just knew there was somewhere I needed to be. I closed my eyes and kept going.

Closing your eyes while running is not a good idea. I tripped soon after, stumbling to the ground. Again I felt hopeless, I wanted to lie there and just die in my loneliness. But I still had that feeling, I was supposed to be somewhere and I was going to go there. I made a mistake, I opened my eyes, I knew I had too, but what I saw sent another wave of sorrow through me.

There was a young girl playing in the park under the watch of her mother not far away. As I watched another rip appeared, tearing away more of the image. Now another part of this world had disappeared into nothingness, it took away the girl's mother, leaving her scared and alone.

I wanted to look away, I wanted to close my eyes and imagine that I didn't see what I just saw. But I couldn't, the little girl, wandering, calling out for her mom, she was like me lost. I saw more of myself in the girl before me then I did with me now. But more so I realized that this girl really was me, and I knew the feeling she had now of being alone was my own experience. This memory of my past, which use to be full of happiness, was now the embodiment of me now, made up of longing and absentness. I felt a tear in me, dividing me from the inside, as I knew if the girl was me, then the one who was now gone, was my mother.

_I was scared and alone. Even if I was older than this girl, if felt alone without my mom. My mom...where was my mom? What happened with mom? The sudden realization that the little girl in this scene was me was the biggest shock. Mom... Where are you when I need you? Where are you when I need you to tell me who I am?_

Watching my mom fade away leaving me alone I couldn't take much more. Again I felt sadness, this agonizing feeling ripping me apart even more then I already was. The more I pictured it, the more I wanted to cry. But I couldn't shed any tears, I was lost. I was so broken that I couldn't cry. I couldn't cry for my mom disappearing, I couldn't weep for the loneliness shredding up my heart. I couldn't because I didn't know who I was. The woman I knew was my mom, was at the same time not my mom, how can she be the mother to no one. I wanted to cry, I wanted to run to my mom and weep in her arms, but someone like me lost in this unforgiving world cannot cry for themselves. I did the only thing I could do, I ran.

Again I was running. Running to where I did not know. But I ran as hard as I could, I ignored my surroundings as I ran by them, if I looked I knew I would lose my will to go on. I kept picturing the shattered images of my mom and my house; I tried to pull something from the fragments of my memory, anything to figure out who I was.

_The biggest thing in my life was my mom, but the more I pictured her, the more she disappeared. I tried to think of home, where she was waiting for me. I kept running towards it and it kept growing farther and farther away. The more I tried to find myself, the more I felt distanced from the things that were most important to me. Why am I so confused?_

My memories were just that, fragments of what they used to be. Like pieces to a puzzle, but I was missing a lot of the parts. I couldn't picture them anymore, where was home, what does my mom's face look like? The only thing in my mind was a darkened silhouette, the outline of a stranger. I could tell it was a man, but who was he? Why at the time that I need my mom's familiar face to comfort me can I only picture this unknown person.

I somehow knew that he was the one who could answer my questions. All that time I thought I was wandering aimlessly, I was being drawn to him, I could feel it. I had to go to him; he would show me the way.

I must have been out of my mind, but I had to find this guy. I had no idea who I was, where I was or where I was going, but I just kept going, running into the distance praying to find him. I must have been crazy, but as hopeless as it was I kept trying to find him.

The fragments of my memories were piecing together the picture as I kept running. I ran faster, I had no idea how I knew where to go, I just had a feeling that this was the way. The silhouette was starting to take form; the colour of his clothing seemed familiar. I had been running without paying attention, it was surprising that I didn't trip again. I looked around and I had no idea how I had gotten to where I was. I was inside my house, or at least this world's broken form of my house.

Another memory played out before me. This one seemed so recent, so familiar and yet it was clouded. Standing in the foreground, before the open door, the stranger was there. There was a shallow form, an outline of a person, talking to him, and another form approaching them. The figure who was talking to him first at the door leaves running up the stairs. Why does this feel so familiar? Sort of like a déjà vu in my mind. The stranger walks in, the picture in my mind of him more complete now. I can see his face, I know it now. I was sure it was him now, the guy that had knocked on our door. I still didn't know who he was, but the feeling that he could help wouldn't go away. Why was he so important?

Seeing him there, the rest of the memory came to me. The other forms walking about interacting with the stranger, it was me and my mom. Why is it I cannot seem to picture her, why is it I cannot even picture myself? The other figures were blurry, he was the only one that I could really see and at that moment he was the only thing that was important or maybe he was the only thing that I knew truly existed.

He turned to leave and started to walk away. I have to talk to him. I ran after him as fast as I could, but the harder I tried to reach him the farther he seemed to be. I wanted to call out to him, but I did not know his name. I wanted to scream, anything to get his attention, but something stopped me. All I could do was just keep running.

He was slowing now, I ran with all my strength to reach him. My body started to tremble as I approached him, my heart beating faster and faster, I felt like I would explode. I wanted to ask him, I wanted him to tell me everything I wanted to know. But when I opened my mouth nothing came out. I tried to say something, anything, but the words wouldn't come.

I tried and tried and tried. But I couldn't produce a voice. I wanted to reach out and grab him, anything to get his attention. But my body wouldn't move, all my strength had left me. I stood there shaking, trying to get myself to keep on going and yet I couldn't find the strength to do it. I lost my will to go on, dropping to my knees, I broke.

I crumbled before him, exhausted, my body aching. I knew once I had stopped running I would lose my will to continue, I was so close, he stood right before me but the hopelessness had won and I broke down. I had never felt so defeated, so worthless that I wanted to cry. The tears were finally coming and I was actually crying now. I didn't want to cry now, I didn't want to feel hopeless; I didn't want him to see. But I couldn't stop the tears, and I sobbed as my strength left me and I collapsed once again.

Lying in the dirt once again, I couldn't help but feel so helpless, so unable to do anything for myself. A shadow loomed above me, an ominous figure; I could feel their presence as their stare bore into my being. I managed the will to lift my head, and there outstretched in front of me was his hand.

"Need some help," He said with a smile.

I knew this voice, I've heard it before, and it felt so familiar and warm. As if my prayers had been met and here was the angel come down to help me in my time of need. I felt something I thought I would never feel again... hope and it filled me up with courage, as I took his hand.

He pulled me up and our eyes met, again this familiar feeling, it felt so good, I felt safe.

It was hard to decide what to say first. I stood there awkwardly basking in his light. When I had almost let everything overwhelm me and lose to the darkness, his light had broken through and saved me. I could have stayed like this forever, content with him helping me along. And yet I still didn't know who he was, I still didn't know who I was. It was at that moment where I finally realized I couldn't stay like this. I couldn't stay lost forever. I had to ask the questions that had plagued me from the start. Even with my new found certainty, I couldn't hold back the tears.

"Wh...Where am I?" I sobbed, the tears still streaming down my face.

"This is your dream world," He replied in his angelic tone, "This is your soul."

This place was mine; I couldn't get it through my head that it was a part of me. It was hard to imagine that my soul was this broken up and at the same time I knew this was how I felt. The reality of it was I had been taken over by the unreal. But I didn't know why I was here now, why did I need to explore my own soul?

"Why am I here?"

I thought it weird to ask someone else why I was looking at my soul, the idea of someone else knowing more about you than you did yourself was terrifying. But right now I just knew he did know more about me than I did.

He smirked and replied, "You're looking for something aren't you?"

At first I didn't understand what he meant. I thought I had been looking for him, but now that I had found him, I still didn't feel right. Then it dawned on me, I was looking for something, I was looking for myself. His hand still held mine and for this brief period I felt like someone again, I felt like I was whole again. Yet at the same time it was different, it wasn't like before, it felt even more complete.

_I was still missing something. The important pieces of who I was are here, my mom, my home. But I needed more, the last piece to the puzzle wasn't here and I didn't know what it was._

"Who am I?" Just asking him the question hurt, the pain of not knowing myself spreading throughout me. Once again I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to in front of him, so I held it in as best I could. I couldn't look him in the face as I talked.

When he didn't answer right away I felt scared. I was scared that if he didn't know then I would never find out who I am. I felt desperate, he just had to know and I wept even more. I gripped his hand even tighter and pleaded with him to give me my answer.

"Who...Who am I?" I managed to say once again between holding in the sobs, still looking at the ground.

I felt his touch on my chin as he tilted my head so I was looking into his eyes. His face was calm, handsome and his smile radiated with a glow that erased my pain. I stared at him mesmerized by his presence, until finally he spoke.

"Sophie," He said. But at the same time I thought I heard a different voice

Then the air around us started to go thick. Almost like a mist creeping inwards around our bodies. The world that I'm in was starting to disappear.

"Sophie," His voice was softer now, the other voice stronger. The tones of the two voices so different, his soft and captivating, the other sounded more worried.

He seemed farther away from me now and yet I could still feel his touch, still see his eyes. The rest of the world blanketed in the white cloud, I couldn't see anything around me anymore, except for him.

"Sophie," I could barely here him now, but I watched his lips mouth my name. His voice seemed like a dream that was drifting away, as the other voice overwhelmed his.

I could no longer see him even though I still felt his presence nearby. The fog slowly enveloping me as my name was called once more by the other voice.

"Sophie," His voice was gone completely, now a familiar voice full of worry was all I heard.

I awoke from my dream in my mother's arms. Being in her warm embrace I finally remembered the things I thought I had forgotten. All the happy memories of my past, and suddenly that lost and lonely little girl in the park were smiling again, playing alongside her mother. Pulling myself closer into her grasp I never wanted to let her go again. I stayed in her arms, burying my head into her shoulder and cried. But these weren't the same tears as before, these were tears of joy. I never realised how much she meant to me until I thought I had lost her. I looked up to see my mom's smiling face, her eyes puffy, she had been crying too, but I could still see the joy she felt.

"Are you okay honey?"

I didn't answer right away, something still wasn't right. I had back what I thought I lost, but it still didn't feel complete. I thought back to my dream, my aimless wandering around in my memories, and he appeared in my head again. I saw him helping me up off the ground our hands joined. I remembered that overwhelming feeling of completeness I had as I stood there with him and I knew what I was missing; I knew now what I was searching for in my dream. I wasn't just looking for myself; I was looking for the missing parts of my world.

"I'm alright," I replied finally, as I broke away from her. I rubbed away the tears and looked back at her with a serious face. There were some things I needed to ask her.

I had come to realize that he was the key to my mom's secrets. Whoever he was, I needed him to reveal the truth.

"Mom... Who was that guy?"

"..." She just looked at me, her face went flat and her eyes serious, but she did not answer. I could see the doubt in her eyes, her guilt. She had been hiding something from me and I needed to know what it was.

"Mom please, tell me who he was." I waited, I needed to know.

She hesitated, the look she had questioning, uncertain, but finally she spoke. "His name is David"

David, the name just clicked, it seemed to fit perfectly with the image I had created of him. Like everything else about him his name to felt so familiar to me, like I've known it my entire life. I repeated the name to myself, David, David, David, the picture I thought was complete of him, now seemed even more so. But I knew there was more to him than this.

"How does...How do....How are you connected, how do you know each other?" I was frantic; the question I wanted to ask wouldn't come out straight until I finally managed to ask it.

"He is..." She hesitated again, eyes wandering, "He is..."

"Please tell me, I need to know," I begged.

She stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing herself. When her eyes opened back up I could see the determination in them.

"He is..." She stopped again, taking it slow, "His name is David Rice."

David Rice, my mom's maiden name was Rice. My eyes widened in expectation, I almost knew what was coming.

Taking one more deep breath, she finally said "He is my son."

_My own picture of myself was almost whole now. The part of me that I had lost turned out to be something I never had. In a sense before this I had only thought I was complete, but I had always been missing this piece. He was the missing piece, David Rice, I had to find him. I had to find my brother. _

There again my world went spinning, even though I had considered it before, but hearing the truth now was a huge shock. I couldn't believe that all this time my mom had hidden something from me, something as big as this. She had another family, she had a son. It was such a shock that I had a brother; the concept seemed so foreign to me because for such a long time it had only been me and my mom. I felt a surge of emotion. Happiness. Sadness. Anger. Betrayal. Confusion. Every bit of me was filled to the brim with these feelings. But they all just swept through me. I was overwhelmed with emotion but as suddenly as they came they were gone. Something else took their place, something that was even more important.

I thought about everything that I had learned, all of it too much for me to handle. My mom had a son, David Rice, I had a brother. My mind raced, picturing everything about him, his piercing eyes, his smiling face from my dream, his hand holding mine. But at the back of my mind was another vision of him. I felt so attached to these new memories, but there was one more that I still needed to figure out. The one thing that was still unexplained. I tried to block it out, I had so much more to think about now, but the more I ignored it, the more I felt it. He just vanished out of thin air. I had seen him, David, one second standing there with someone else, the next gone, they had disappeared without a trace.

I clenched my hands and at once I felt something there. The material felt soft and warm in my hands, I looked to find myself holding something. I recognized it as the black object I had seen sticking out of the snow. I didn't remember picking it up, the only thing clear was reaching for it then the world going black. I held it up, looking at it, it was a hat. It was his hat. The memory of David disappearing even more prominent, I replayed it over and over again. Then the word popped into my head, Jumper.

"Mom...What is a Jumper?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, her expression grave. The horror was written all over her face, as if she had watched me perishing before her eyes. She turned away, pained with what she had just heard. I could see her trembling, her body shaking in anger.

Turning back towards me, the anger she felt clear she said, "Drop it Sophie."

"What?" I have never seen this side of her; she had never been this angry before, never this serious about something. Why was she angry? I couldn't come up with any reasons for her anger, what could Jumper mean?

There was something bigger here, even bigger than having another family, having a son. There was another secret my mom was hiding from me. It had to be something even more troubling, something that could change my life. But what could it be? I wanted to press on, but as I looked at her to ask more she cut me off.

"Please," she pleaded, "Just forget it, forget everything I've told you, forget everything that happened."

She stopped, looking straight at me, her eyes resolute, burning into me with determination.

"Forget him."

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This chapter had a major overhaul. After going over it and planning out the next chapter I felt unsatisfied with it so I went through it and added a lot. The next chapter is well underway and when I find more free time I'll get it done, hopefully soon.

Thanks for reading and please review.

-- The Procrastinadian


	3. Frustrations and Confrontations

Finally, another update. I never wanted to leave a story alone for this long, but life has it's own plan and things kept coming up, nevertheless I've finally finished another chapter. The only thing I'm happy about in taking this long to update is I got another review, so a big thanks too Mrs Max McDowell for reviewing. Glad to see someone is reading, anyways enough of this here's the next chapter.

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Disclaimer:I in no way own any rights to the movie or book Jumper. The characters and original story belong to their rightful owners.

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Notes:  
Blah – normal  
_Blah_ – Sophie's soul  
"Blah" – talking

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The confrontation with his mother had left David very confused. All the ways he had pictured their meeting going, none were even close to what had happened. Whatever it was he had been expecting it definitely wasn't this. He had never imagined her to have started a new family, his unconscious secretly hoping she had left and was as miserable as him about it. But when it was someone else to open the door, that girl, it was then he finally realized that maybe his mother really had moved on without him. That was David's biggest shock.

While walking back towards Millie, David tried to keep himself composed, he tried to hide his inner turmoil that was starting to tear him apart. The reason David had never consider that his mother had moved on and had started a new family, a new life, was because he knew it was probably true. He knew that the moment that she was gone, that she would not come back. But he had to believe that she would come back for him someday, he had too or be completely overwhelmed with sorrow. Because he so wanted to avoid the thought, it became his biggest fear, the thing he wanted to avoid most of all and so he buried the truth deep within hoping to never bring it up. And now he was here confirming his greatest fear and now it was all he could think about.

The shock to his system brought up another feeling he had thought he drowned out, anger. After his mother left him, he had been depressed, but depression quickly turns to anger. All these years and not hearing a word from her, he had thought that he had overcome his anger. But seeing that girl brought it all rushing back and he did not know why. In some way David was angrier with that girl, a girl who he did not even know, then he was at his mother. He tried to hide his frustrations, but he could barely think straight. As he looked towards Millie waiting for him, he hoped his face masked his true feelings, but his hands were grasped tightly around his hat breaking the illusion.

Taking one look back towards the house, David took his last steps towards Millie. Despite his efforts to not look shaken up, Millie quickly responded to his discomfort.

"Hey, "She called, worried about what might have taken place, "You okay?"

"Yeah," David replied, although his voice was unconvincing.

"You sure?" Millie asked even more worried.

David responded quickly, trying his best to reassure her, "Yeah I am."

Millie wasn't totally convinced, but for now she would let it slide. She would confront him again later, hoping that he would tell her what was bothering him.

"Good," Millie said with a smile, "Because I'm freezing can we please go someplace warm?"

"Where do you want to go?" David asked, wanting to take her away from his troubles.

"Surprise me." Was her answer, opening her hand in waiting for his. David's hand came down, interlocking with hers and then they were gone in a blur of snow. Unknowingly to David, in his state of confusion, he had dropped his hat leaving it to be buried under the snow.

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Her eyes bore into me with such determination. She was being serious now, more serious then when she was telling me about David. There was something much more troubling to her than David, something about Jumpers. I still couldn't figure it out, what could the word Jumper mean, why did it keep coming up. David's sudden disappearance didn't help, the scene still replaying in my mind.

"Forget him," she said.

And with that the discussion was over, one look at her serious expression could tell me that. It was a bit of a shock all of a sudden, if I hadn't had too many of those already. But to think she would suddenly ask to just drop the subject after her finally telling me these secrets she kept from me was out of the question. After learning about David, learning these things about my mom that I couldn't imagine, she just expected me to forget about it? How could I do that, these things were part of me now, it just doesn't even seem possible to forget about it anymore. But most of all I thought, why? Why now, after telling me about David, telling she had another family, telling me these huge secrets she kept, did she now want me to drop the subject? What more could she be hiding?

_I am holding all the pieces to my broken mirror and yet there was still more. I tried and tried to put back together my world, but it wasn't fitting. As if everything I had learned and experienced up until now was still not enough. Just like the nursery rhyme said, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I couldn't put myself back together again. My world was not going to come together so easily._

"But mom –"I protested, but she cut me off quickly.

"No Sophie, no buts, just drop it," Again the seriousness in her eyes told me to just listen to her, but her voice was coated with sadness now, pleading almost, "Please just drop it."

I just couldn't take what she said to heart, I couldn't hear the soft begging in her words, I couldn't listen to what she really wanted to say. It was something I couldn't comprehend any longer, not after gaining this knowledge. So once more I ignored her words and wanted to ask more.

But she cut me off again knowing I was about to speak, "Sophie, I said forget about it!" Her irrational mood quickly swinging to anger, it was no longer the serious sturdy voice she had before, nor the shaky nervousness she had when she began her story. No she meant what she was saying and would prove her point. She began to get up off the couch, trying to do anything to get me to see the conversation was truly over.

But still, I couldn't let it go. I reached out my arm, lightly grabbing hers. I hadn't realized my own shaking, my body tensed and I was on the verge of tears.

"Mom," I whimpered, "Please just tell me."

She broke away her hand, and answered simply "No." She started walking away, and as I stared at her back, her form slowly creeping away from me, her answer stung me even more so. The simplicity of it truly made her point, she just expected me to forget him.

"FINE!" I yelled, I couldn't handle it anymore. With tears streaming down my face, I stormed off towards the stairs.

Half way up, I yelled back, "IF YOU WANT ME TO FORGET ABOUT HIM, JUST FORGET ABOUT ME!"

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Mary couldn't get the last thing her daughter said to her before storming off out of her mind. She couldn't forget the last look on her face, the hurt in her daughter's eye and the feeling of betrayal portrayed in her voice. She furiously buried her head into her hands. Her head was pounding, trying to find a way to make this situation right and drawing up nothing.

She had left Sophie to vent for a few hours after their discussion on David. Mary desperately trying to think of something to say to Sophie, something that would make her understand, but even after those few hours had come up with nothing to say. She had gone up to her room and stood outside silently wishing she could just rewind the clock and stop Sophie from seeing David. She called out her daughter's name, softly asking her to come out but Sophie didn't answer her. Mary eventually gave up for the moment and headed back down stairs.

A phone call broke her out of her turmoil, the soft ringing drowning out the ringing going on in Mary's head. She walked over to the phone, glancing down at the caller id before picking it up. The display told her nothing, an unknown caller with a private number. She quickly picked it up, and silently held it to her ear.

"Mary Rice," said the caller, his voice deep and rough.

Mary answered with her identification number, followed by her pass code. The process was the Paladin's identification sequence.

"What is this about," Mary spoke slowly into the phone, her voice tensing up, "Roland."

"A known Jumper, one David Rice, "Roland said, enunciating Rice clearly, "Has been detected in your area."

"Is that so," Mary replied calmly, her mind racing. How had they found out so quickly? Did they know that they had made contact? Did they know that she was his mother?

"I'll be coming with a team in a few days."

And the line went dead. Mary stood there, phone still at her ear. Sudden realization dawning upon her that David was in danger, that she may be in trouble and that Sophie may not be safe.

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To say David was angry would be an understatement. He managed to get himself and Millie to a hotel somewhere off the coast and since then has been wildly pacing about. His body shook with anger, his fists balled up in tights fists. The veins around his knuckles were pulsing red, his hands clenched tightly around the invisible hat he no longer held.

His pacing grew wilder, quickly turning to short jumps throughout their room. David flickered in and out; his sporadic jumping began to shake the whole room.

Millie sat away from David in the other room. She was concerned for him, but she didn't know what she could do. But as the shaking grew more and more intense, she had to say something to him soon. She was still undecided on what to say, but she got up and moved towards the door to the other room.

"David," She called, looking around for him, his form still flickering, almost as if he was in two places. His form settled down a bit in a spot near the window and she walked slowly towards him.

"David, you need to calm down," She said, pleading with him.

She slowly wrapped herself around him in a gentle embrace, her head lying in the small of his back.

"Just stop for a second and let's talk about it."

David's body had stopped shaking, his form in her arms stayed still and calm. His gaze did not move from the window, peering out onto the setting sun over the horizon. His thoughts were still jumping about, even if he no longer was. The calling voice of Millie was the only thing keeping him anchored to the spot. As he forced himself to steady, trying to fight down this endless battle in his mind, he did not even sense the presence of Millie's body around his.

"Are you okay?" She asked him softly. But he did not answer and just remained motionless, as if even if he was physically here, he at the same time was not. When he did not answer, Millie dropped her arms from around him and took a step back.

"David –"

David's fist shot out, connecting with the window sill and interrupting Millie. The hit was hard, a loud crack that echoed throughout the room. Millie jumped back startled, losing her balance and landing hard on the floor. The sound finally alerted David to her presence.

"Sorry," was his reply, not even turning around to look at her. His body did not shift at all, not even to check if she was alright.

Millie was even more concerned now; it hurt her to see him like this, so lost and confused with his life. She got over her momentary shock and picked herself back up. She made her way back to David, forgoing his back, now standing between him and the window. She tried to look him in his eyes, but his face was downcast, intensely staring down at the floor. His hand trembled, still tightly clenched into a fist. Millie carefully placed her hand upon his fist, and her other hand lightly under his chin, tilting his head to see his eyes.

"David I know it hurts, but you need to calm down."

His fist broke, slowly uncurling under her fingers. But David's hand still shook, even stronger now as his body joined in. His eyes showed off his true feelings, confusion, anger, sadness.

"Come on, let's go sit down and we can talk about it."

Millie strengthened her hold of his hand, intertwining his fingers with her own. She made to move them over towards the table, to sit on the chairs surrounding it. She started to guide him, gently tugging on his arm to follow.

David broke hold of her hand, pulling his away roughly. He stopped in place, his body facing towards her, but his face again staring down at the floor. Millie moved again to get closer to him.

"David..." She said trailing off, unsure of what to say next, "Let's talk."

David raised his head, the confusion and sadness he had shown before now was totally overwhelmed by his anger.

"Talk about it! TALK ABOUT IT! Is that all you want to do, just talk about it!"

"David I –"

"Like talking about it can fix anything." He said spitefully, cutting her off.

David continued, "There's nothing to talk about anyways."

Millie felt completely helpless, unable to do anything in consoling him. She wanted them to talk about, to understand what he was going through, but what he said might be true. All she could do was talk about it and hope to understand it all, but right now there was nothing more she could do.

"What is there to talk about anyways," David suddenly repeated.

"How she abandoned me!"

"How she still doesn't care about me!"

"How she still sides with those...those people!"

He stopped, taking in some deep breathes. The shaking had slowed, as if letting it out had relaxed him a bit. Millie wanted to step in and say something, anything to him, but she didn't know what to say. She looked at him, trying to find the answer, trying to find what he wanted to hear right now. But what she found was a hurt feeling in his eyes. He had let out his anger, but still there was something more, something that was really bothering him. It was more than the Paladins, more than his mother abandoning him, even more than finding her after so long and still not finding what he had been looking for.

"Just let it out David," She said, suddenly finding what needed to be said, "Tell me what is really bothering you."

David tensed, letting out a big breath. His shaking stopped completely, but he seemed even more worried.

"It's..." His voice losing all the power and anger it had before, "It's...her."

Millie was confused, her? Who was this her? But David continued before she could figure it out.

"It's her, that girl, what about her!"

Millie started to piece it together, vaguely remembering seeing two shapes at the door before David had entered the house. It dawned on her that this other person, this girl, must be part of David's mother's new family. He must be feeling that this girl had taken her away from him. He must be angry that this girl had his mother growing up, while he did not.

"Oh David I'm –"

"SHUT UP!" David yelled, once again cutting her off.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," He said while turning away from her.

Millie was a little withdrawn about saying anything more after his sudden outburst. Before she could work up the courage to speak again, David moved to leave.

"I need to some air." He said, quickly jumping away.

"No David wait!" She tried calling out to him, but was only speaking to the air.

A voice seemed to echo throughout the space, "Sorry," it said in a light distant tone.

Millie stood up, gazing at the spot where he stood, then out the window, trying to see what he saw.

"I wish I could help you," She said with a sigh, turning away and heading towards the bedroom.

The expression on her face turned from hurt to mock anger.

"I can't believe he wouldn't listen to me," She said, pausing for a second, "I can't believe he just left me here."

She scowled, crossing her arms in a huff.

"If he comes back thinking he can get lucky tonight, he can just forget about it."

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Mary sat alone under the dim lights of her kitchen. She hadn't let on just how big of a shock seeing David at her door was for her. She had been too distracted with Sophie to really think about seeing him again. It had been days since he showed up, and still she couldn't stop thinking about it. And now, the Paladins were coming for him no less. The only thing she was focusing on now was Sophie and how she didn't want her to be involved in this mess.

Giving up David was the hardest thing Mary had ever had to do. The only way she pulled through it was her constant attempt at validation by telling herself that it was for his safety, it was to protect him. Seeing him here, talking to Sophie, she instantly knew she had to keep him away from her. If the Paladins found out that she had let David go not only once before, but twice now she would be in severe trouble. The thought of Sophie having any accountability and potentially being pulled into something she knew nothing about, that troubled Mary even more.

She had to push him away again, no matter how difficult it was. Repeating to herself that it was now for both their safeties. But it could only get her so far, and now she couldn't sleep, her son was probably furious with her and her daughter wasn't speaking to her.

"Well at least I have some good coffee." She said to no one in particular, sighing deeply.

She had almost ruined everything, everything she worked for, everything she had done to protect them. Mary questioned why she had almost told Sophie everything. Why did she tell her anything at all? It was a mystery, one that was eating away at her. But she knew deep down she wanted to tell Sophie everything, as if telling Sophie about her past could somehow resolve her of her sins, could somehow make abandoning her own son less of a horrific act. And she was going too, she almost did, but she stumbled at the next part. The exact reason she didn't want Sophie know, Jumpers.

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I hadn't spoken to my mom since our argument over David. That was a few days ago now. I've spent most of the time since then avoiding her, mainly locking myself away in my room. Of course I still needed to eat and use the bathroom, but I would only leave when it was necessary. I can't ignore her completely, she does live here too, but I try not to acknowledge her presence. I've just been going about my business as if she didn't live here, as if I was alone, because that's how I felt right now, alone.

I've spent a lot of my time just thinking about everything, thinking about my life, my mom's lies and most of all David. His presence in my mind was overwhelming; I couldn't get him out of my head. I want to meet him; I want to get to know him. My brother I thought, but it still seemed out of place calling him that.

The last few days have been nothing more than a blur. I couldn't remember anything in particular about them. My mind still drawing back to everything that I've learned, everything that has happened, and most of all what was going to happen now. The way my mom looked at me, it kept reappearing in my head, as clear as if she were standing before me now. Her eyes, her face, everything about her told me how serious she was, how unwavering. She was absolute in her decision to cut me off from anything further, but what most struck me was how I could see something more in her. Fear I thought, that is what I saw. She didn't want me to know because she was afraid, afraid of something that might happen because of it.

I've tried going to talk to her about it, I've tried to get past this, I don't want to alienate my mom, she is everything to me. But I couldn't do it, I try and try, but I can't forgive her, not yet at least. I have never felt so angry before, so angry at her. I can't even look her in the eye as I pass her in the hall or see her elsewhere in the house. That's why I'm sitting here alone, in the dark, tucked away in the safety of my room. Sitting at the corner of my window, staring out at the night sky, the stars, the moon, they were still the same. But for me, everything was different.

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David stood a distance from his mother's house. The same spot he had been not too many days ago, taking one final look back before jumping off with Millie. He wasn't sure how he had gotten here, not even recalling thinking about returning here. But he was here now, and he had reappeared here every night for the last few nights.

David hadn't returned to Millie that night, nor the next night or the next. It had been days, and he still hadn't cleared his head. He left her alone and wanted to go back to her, he was sure she wouldn't be happy with him, but he didn't want to go back to her like this.

He had left with the intent of getting some air, of clearing his head from all this turmoil that had plagued him since meeting with his mom. But it had proved to be more difficult than he had anticipated. Where once he had been able to jump about the world and separate himself from his troubles, he no longer could. The world seemed smaller now; jumping from place to place did not feel the same to him anymore, it didn't give him the same feeling he once had for it. The rush and the enjoyment he got out it was gone, but with all that had happened, he guessed it would never really be the same.

But it wasn't the traumatic events that had unfolded into his near death experiences and it wasn't even Millie's safety that was currently clouding his mind. No, he was still focused on his Mother and now this girl. Long since abandoning him and having finally found her, he had hoped to have gained something more. Instead he felt like another thing had been taken away.

His wandering mind was not even conscious of where he was jumping too. From country to country, city to city, he was in and out of places without a second glance. But each night it always ended the same way. Lost in contemplation, David always found himself staring back towards the house that his mother lived in.

Tonight had been no different. In somewhat of a daze he had jumped about, London, Paris, Egypt, away and gone and not to long after, he was standing where he was now. He wished he could get away, but David was drawn here. It was infuriating how much he wanted to hate her, hate his mother, but he couldn't. He wanted her in his life after finding her so suddenly. Somehow finding this girl had displaced his anger, and yet he wanted to find out who she was. A light in the distance suddenly caught his eye breaking him out of his trance.

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The night was clear, the stars stood out and the moon shone brightly. I could see through the darkness of night, the ground below me seemed almost as clear as day. Albeit a very dim, cloudy day, but you get my point. The ground seemed to glow dimly in the moonlight. I could make out all the features of the yard, the lightly worn set of footprints in the snow going and coming towards the house, almost creating a path. I traced along the path, following the footprints with my eyes, trying to decipher through the various prints, looking for something. I could clearly see my footprints, lightly pushed into the ground, chasing after another set. I followed one set, his set, and found myself staring at the spot where he stopped before magically disappearing. The footprints began and so suddenly stopped, nothing after, there was no evidence that he had walked away.

I looked vigilantly through the night. Seeing more and more evidence that David had just up and disappeared, I couldn't pull away from the word Jumper.

Could this word, this seemingly insignificant word, have something to do with David? Could a Jumper be someone who is able to teleport? Can David teleport?

My mind was racing again, wandering through countless ideas and assumptions. No, I finally said to myself. No, there is no such thing as teleporting, people can't just disappear from one place and reappear in another. But the more I tried to convince myself of its impossibility, the more I thought that it made sense.

I looked once more through the dark, looking towards the spot David had disappeared from, teleported from – No maybe I should say jumped from. As if I could look and see some sort of proof that it was true. What I found, what I saw, was definitely not what I expected.

There was someone there. Just standing there in the middle of our yard, out of nowhere, they weren't there before I'm sure of it. It could have been anyone, the lights in the sky casting shadow over their form. It could have been a guy, a girl, a wandering homeless person, a serial killer, as far as I knew it could have been Santa Claus, anyone could have been standing there. But no, somehow I knew it was him, it was David, like there was some voice in my head telling me, whispering his name over and over, David, David, David.

I looked again to make sure I wasn't imagining it, I had been driving myself crazy thinking about the possibilities, and it was late, I probably only thought I saw someone in my sleep deprived state. Maybe I was dreaming, quickly pinching myself to see if I could feel it. Ouch, definitely not dreaming I thought distantly, rubbing my hand over the spot I pinched and then I looked back. But they were still there, he was still there and so I ran, throwing my door open, it slammed hard, but I didn't care if my mom heard me. I was at the front door before I knew it, about to run out in the cold, dark night to see a complete stranger, who I thought was my newly discovered brother.

There probably should have been a voice in my head telling me this was crazy, telling me that what I was about to do could get me killed, apparently the voice took the night off, because all my mind was telling me was that David was there waiting for me. As soon as I opened the door I was yelling.

"David!" I called, my voice echoing throughout the night.

He didn't move as if he didn't hear me at all. I started walking towards him, my voice getting louder and more panicked.

"David!" I called again.

I was about to call again, not even three steps out the door. His head suddenly moved, looking up towards the direction of the house, not really at me but towards me, as if he was looking past me.

"Davi—"

But he, or whoever it was, was gone. I stopped, wrapping my arms around my body, the cold chill finally sinking in. Standing there, outside my house in the middle of the night, alone, half dressed, wearing only what I was going to sleep in, yelling at the top of my lungs, I couldn't help but think maybe I was going crazy.

I slowly turned around, walking back into the house. I stopped the door and took one look back, but there was only the quiet night sky looking back and I headed off to bed.

_Crazy wasn't even the beginning of how I'm feeling. My mind is a mess, everything is a mess and I just wanted it to be back to normal. Maybe all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't Humpty Dumpty back together again, but I'm not Humpty Dumpty. And I want to be put back together again. Maybe I'm not going crazy; maybe I really did see David. I wanted so badly to meet him, meet the one who shattered my world. Maybe deep down I know that David is the one who can put my world back together again. _

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Mary had woken to a loud slam coming from the hallway, followed but the sound of shuffling which could have only been Sophie rushing out of her room. She had been reading in her room before dozing off, the book lying askew in front of her. She turned on her bedside lamp, waiting to hear anything more. It could have been anything, Sophie was a teenager, being up this late wasn't a surprise. Usually she would have gone and checked on her, but Sophie was still angry with her and decided it better to wait before going.

It was quiet for a bit, nothing more than the slight sounds of someone moving about, Mary almost thought Sophie was going back to bed, until she heard her daughters voice break the silence.

"David!"

Mary was up and out of bed with a start. She moved quickly to the door, her hand hovering over the doorknob was trembling.

Mary had seen David over the last few nights. She was a Paladin after all and also his mother, she knew he would be back. Seeing him like that, so distressed, she wanted to talk to him and make it better. But she knew she couldn't do that, nothing she could do would make it better, at least without endangering Sophie. And that was where her panic came from, not knowing David was around again, but the chance that Sophie may get involved.

"David!" She heard Sophie call again and Mary slowly opened her bedroom door, quietly stepping out into the hall. She peered down the stairs at the open door and walked swiftly over to the window. She looked out into the night, quickly spotting David and then looking for Sophie. Sophie was just outside the door, making slow progress towards David. He was seemingly just standing there idle, just looking forward intently as if he had not heard his name being called, before suddenly turning his head up towards the house. It was just a quick gaze, but Mary could have sworn that he looked at her, before he disappeared from sight. At almost the same time, she heard a slight bump coming from above her, someone was on the roof.

Sophie began to call again, "Davi—"but stopped realizing he was gone as well.

Mary watched her daughter slowly turn back, letting out a sigh of relief. She was glad that nothing had happened, but she knew she would have to do something. If David kept coming back here, she knew the two would interact at some point and she couldn't let that happen. The call she had received only a few days ago still clearly in her mind, the Paladins were coming.

As Sophie closed the front door, Mary shut the door to her room. Mary waited just inside the door, listening intently for Sophie's footsteps as she made her way up the stairs. Hearing another door close, Mary silently re-entered the hallway, making her swiftly down the hall, quietly entering the night to meet the visitor on the roof.

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A sudden change in the scene before him caught David's attention, the light illuminating from the doorway of the house and the person appearing in its shadow. He noticed it out of the corner of his eyes, yet made no reaction to it. His mind was still a blur, not thinking coherently, he did not move because he didn't know how he would react. He didn't know if right now he could control his anger and end up harming the one calling his name.

"David!" Came the call, but he ignored it.

David stood still, looking forward but downcast towards the ground. A movement of shadow in the light, flickering on the night floor, it moved slowly towards him. He knew who it was coming to meet him, that girl again, and his mind racked for answers on the course of action he should take. He felt the girl's eyes on him, as if trying to figure out who he was, but he felt another gaze fall on him too in the distance.

"David!" Came the second call, but that was not what he reacted too.

After the second call came David moved his stare upwards, past the girl standing at the door, until his eyes rested on the window above her. There he made out another figure watching him, judging him, it was his mother. He didn't want to be seen by her, he didn't want to be in her presence and yet he couldn't get away.

His mind suddenly remembering the girl heading his way, he jumped away out of sight. He could have just left then and there, but seeing his mother again watching him, as if knowing he had been there all along, he had to talk to her again. He landed on the roof with a slight thump, knowing full well that his mother would hear it. David sat there, hidden in the shadows, looking down at the girl who was looking back once more before closing the door, disappearing with the light.

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Mary stepped out the door, the light returning to illuminate the night. Being as quiet as she could as to not alert Sophie of her actions, she had made her way down the stairs and grabbed a coat before proceeding outside.

In almost a whisper she spoke "David." Her voice came out in a soft tone, while carrying her hard, firm, notion that she was not playing around. Even in her quiet voice the words carried through the night, cutting the silence. There was no answer, but she knew he was there.

Mary turned, looking up towards the roof, her arms crossed, her stiff body displaying her serious demeanour. She was about to speak, but David was the first to break the silence.

"That girl was your daughter right?" The question coming out as if not even addressed to Mary, as if he was talking to the air.

"Yes," Mary replied simply.

"How old is she?" He asked next, seemingly entertained with getting a response.

"Fifteen."

"What's her name?" He said, still acting as if he were talking to himself, as if she were nothing more than his imagination, his mind's creation to answer all his questions.

Mary paused, not answering as quickly as she had before, questioning whether to tell him more.

"Sophie," She finally said, "Her name is Sophie."

Mary heard a humph sound, almost a laugh, come from above. She scanned the rooftop, looking for David, but only saw shadows, his form disguised by the dark.

"You can't keep coming here. "

Something moved in the shadows and Mary could distinctly make out his standing form looking down on her.

"David, you can't keep coming here," She repeated, "If you are seen here by another Paladin it won't be safe, for you or for me."

David responded in a low growl, "I guess I can't just leave you alone." His angry tone indicating he was actually addressing her now.

In an instant David was beside her, appearing beside her as if he was always there, not a disturbance in the night, except for the slight shimmer in the air of the remnants of his jump.

He didn't look at her, standing there again still, thinking about something else. He made a sudden move, turning away from her abruptly. He had his back towards her now, his shoulders stiffened as anger took over him.

"I'm sorry I can't abandon my family as easily as you," David said in a smug, sarcastic tone.

Mary was shaken by the comment; it hurt her, what she did to him, even if he didn't think so. She moved forward, placing her hand firmly on David's shaking shoulders.

"David I—"

"Save it," David interrupted, roughly yanking his shoulder from her grasp, "I don't want to hear anymore of your stories."

Turning towards her, he yelled, "I'm tired of your lies!"

Mary was taken aback by the sudden outburst, his angry tone carrying into her and she responded back bitterly.

"Oh and what about you, you just abandoned your father." She responded back, her serious tone that she had taken coming out of her now disrupted with her own anger.

Hearing that, David back off a bit, his anger quelled. The fiery anger in his eyes gave way to sadness and his voice lost the command it had had.

"I went back for him, I tried to save him," His response quiet and withdrawn.

Mary not fully understanding what he meant answered back quickly, "What do you mean tried to save him?" Her voice turned to shock as she came to realization part way through her reply.

"Like you would care," David responded, his anger returning, "You left him too."

"What are you talking about?" She said, stepping closer to him again, almost as if she wanted to embrace him.

"They killed him!" David's anger clear now. "YOUR people killed him!"

"Oh..." Was Mary's answer, unable to reply properly. "I'm...I'm sorry."

They stood in awkward silence. David staring glaringly back at his mother, and Mary trying to figure out what to say to make it right.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't know, like you would care anyways." His reply came bluntly; to Mary with each reply it felt as if she were being hit in the gut. The wind in her lungs pushed out of her and her reply's only less cognisant because of it.

"David I do care, I loved your father and I love you," She stopped and placed her hand on David's cheek, "I've always loved you."

David pushed away Mary's hand. "You say that and yet you left us mom, you left me."

"I've told you, it was to protect you"

"Just stop it already."

"David."

"It hurts more when you pretend to care," David replied breaking away from his mother's eyes and staring up into the stars. "I remember staying awake at night wishing you would come back, lying to myself that you actually cared about me, but you never came back."

"David, I really am sorry." Her voice was as sincere as she could make it.

"Like that makes any difference now."

David turned away from her, making his way as if he were about to leave. Even without moving, his sudden freeze made it known that he had something left to say.

"Just answer me this," He said slowly, "Would you do it to her?"

"What?" Mary was again lost to his reply.

"Could you... No would you abandon her, your..." He stopped for a second, hesitant to say it, "Your Daughter, would you abandon her too?"

Mary froze, thinking about all that had happened over the last few days. How close Sophie had come to finding out about Jumpers, how close Sophie was to being involved in this mess. If Sophie were to discover the existence of Jumpers, and more so of David, it would not be long before the Paladins were after her as well. If Mary were to leave now, then maybe, just maybe, Sophie would be safe. If Mary could leave her, then Sophie wouldn't—couldn't find out about Jumpers.

"David I—"

"You know what," David interrupted, "I know the answer."

"You told me I had a head start right," David let out a laugh, "Even now you're still running away from me, you're still abandoning me. You would do it to her in a heartbeat." David said the last part particularly harshly, staring straight into his mother's eyes.

"I would leave her if it meant she was safe," Mary replied, but her voice was weak.

"David, I never wanted to leave you and I never want to leave Sophie." She paused, tears streaming down her face, "But you've seen this war, you've seen how much it can hurt the ones we love, if leaving meant that she would stay safe, then yes I would leave in a heartbeat." Mary said sorrowfully, chocking on her last few words as the tears came more and more.

"And...and, if you keep coming here and Sophie gets involved, then I might just have to leave her."

David stood unmoving as his mother cries rang through the night. He understood her reasoning and yet, he couldn't forgive her for it.

"They're coming for you David, they know you're here."

"Don't worry, I won't be back."

"David, but I—"Mary began, choking back her tears.

"You left me when I was five," David said as he turned to leave again. "It hurt, it hurt a lot, but I made it through most of my life without you, but what about her? You have been with her for much longer then you were with me, how do you think she would feel."

Mary didn't reply, her hands covering her mouth holding in her cries. When David didn't hear a response, he turned his head back and unleashed his anger.

"HOW DO YOU THINK SHE WOULD FEEL?" David roared.

"It would shatter her, losing someone who was there through all the big moments of her life so suddenly would break her." David said softly, "At least with me, growing up I only wished you were there, losing you again now makes no difference anymore. "

David turned away again. He began to jump away, disappearing into the night. But before he was gone his voice echoed back.

"If you ever hurt her like you did with me, I will never forgive you." And with that with he was gone.

Mary stood alone in the darkness; her eyes welled up with tears. She trembled in her distress, slowly turning back towards the house. She took one final look back before closing the door, her soft, shaking voice echoing through the night.

"David, I'm sorry."

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Well, another chapter down. Time to start writing the next one, I'm hoping I won't take this long to update again, but hey, you never know. The actual plot starts next chapter, more or less, I hope.

So again, thanks for reading and please review if you do.

-- The Procrastinadian


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